The Armor Debacle

in Korea, 1950:
Implications for Today
ARTHUR W. CONNOR, JR.

"All we need is some men up there who won't run when they see tanks."
- Brigadier General John H. Church
to Lieutenant Colonel Charles B. Smith,
2 July 1950.

A t the end of World War II, the US Army evaluated every aspect of its
doctrine. The 1946 Stilwell Board, studying the role of the tank, con-
cluded "that the best antitank weapon is a better tank.'" The concept of tank
destroyers as a separate arm was discarded when the distinction between tank
and tank destroyer faded with the introduction of the M-26 Pershing tank and
its 90mm main gun. Tanks were added to the infantry regiment Table of
Organization and Equipment (TO&E), and a tank battalion was made organic
to each infantry division.
Budgetary strictures imposed after World War II, however, did not
allow these units to remain operative, and many were simply deactivated. The
1949 Field Service Regulations reflected the changes that emanated from the
combat experience of World War II, emphasizing that "no one arm wins
battles.'" Thus when the North Koreans invaded South Korea on 25 June 1950,
the US Army had a sound doctrinal approach to war, but it did not have the
forces to support the doctrine. One notable result was the destruction of Task
Force Smith on 5 July 1950 by the tank-led North Korean Peoples Army.
Lieutenant Colonel Charles B. "Brad" Smith led a small force from
the 1st Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division into South
Korea on I July 1950. Consisting of two companies of infantry, two 75mm
recoilless rifles, two 4.2-inch mortars, six 2.36-inch shoulder-held antitank
rocket-launchers ("bazookas," in the idiom of the day), and a six-gun battery

66 Parameters
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of 105mm artillery, Task Force Smith was airlifted into Pusan and then moved
north to confront the enemy.
Posted into position north of Osan, the Americans met the advancing
enemy on the morning of 5 July. At 0800 hours, the six howitzers began firing
at eight Russian-built T-34 tanks that were bearing down on the task force
positions. The tanks were impervious to the artillery fire, and recoilless rifle
and bazooka fire also had no effect. Within two hours, 33 North Korean T-34
tanks had passed through the American positions, while Task Force Smith had
been able to damage only two of the attacking tanks. A second wave of tanks
cut through Task Force Smith an hour later, and at 1145 hours three tanks led
the 16th and 18th Infantry Regiments of the North Korean 4th Division in an
assault on the American infantry positions, routing them.
The Americans fled the scene of battle southerly as quickly as possible,
disabling and abandoning their howitzers and heavy weapons. The next morning,
the task force arrived in Chonan minus 150 men killed or missing. 3 True to
General Church's instructions, Task Force Smith did not run when the enemy
tanks appeared, but it lacked any effective antitank weapon. The destruction of
Task Force Smith precipitated a frenetic effort by MacArthur's headquarters, the
Pentagon, and even Secretary of State Dean Acheson to procure the necessary
armor for General Walton H. Walker's Eighth Army to fight effectively in Korea.
As the Army downsizes over the next several years in the wake of
recent political events, it is imperative that emerging force structure be kept in
alignment with prevailing doctrine. It has been recently suggested that the
ground combat of the Gulf War was anachronistic, a throwback to the operations
of Third Army in France in 1944, while "infantry legions on patrol are the stuff
of superpower interventions" in the future. 4 Such a myopic attitude is dangerous.
Combined arms operations are essential to the effective implementation of
AirLand Battle doctrine. A proper force mix must be found and maintained as
the Army downsizes over the next few years.
At the end of World War II, the production of tanks in the United States
ceased. The tank production lines either were disassembled or reconverted to
civilian production. As Army appropriations fell after the war, the R&D budget
for all types of automotive equipment (of which tanks were only a part) fell to
an average of $5,000,000 per year from 1945 to 1950. (In comparison, Chrysler
Corporation spent an average of $25,000,000 per year on R&D during the same
period.') The impact of this deficiency would be felt by Eighth Army in 1950.

Captain Arthur W. Connor, Jr., is an instructor in the Department of History, US

Military Academy, West Point. New York. A 1981 graduate of West Point, he earned
his M.A. in history from Temple University. As an armor officer, he has held a variety
of command and staff assignments in the 82d Airborne Division and 1st Infantry
Division, and has served a tour of duty in Israel as a United Nations Military Observer.

Summer 1992 67
 NORTH
KOREA#~~,j

Owing to the austere budget imposed on the armed forces by Secretary

of Defense Louis Johnson in 1949 and 1950, the Army was forced to reorganize
its active divisions under a reduced-strength TO&E. For Eighth Army this meant
the elimination of the third infantry battalion of each regiment and the reduction
ofthe heavy tank battalion assigned to each division to only one active company.
Additionally, the regimental tank company assigned to each of the infantry
regiments was eliminated. 6 Eighth Army, however, went even further than the
reduced TO&E specified. Not only were the tank companies deactivated, the
remaining companies were equipped with only the light M-24 Chaffee tank

68 Parameters
instead of the medium M-4A3 Sherman tank or the newer M-26 Pershing heavy
tank. The Eighth Army G-4 report indicates that "several queries" were made
to the Zone of the Interior (United States) over the year preceding the start of
the war requesting medium tanks, but "apparently this theater [Far East] did not
possess the priority necessary to warrant [medium tanks] issue.'"

T he rout of Task Force Smith reverberated from Tokyo to Washington. On

the same day that the North Korean T-34s cut through the American line
at Os an, the Eighth Army G-4 requisitioned 60 M-24 Chaffee light tanks and
54 M-26 Pershing medium tanks from the Department of the Army.' At the
time of this request, however, there were no tanks in production in the United
States! Any tank sent to Eighth Army would have to come from active Army
or Reserve units, or from storage. New tanks were being developed, but
because of the budget limitations none had been tested and standardized. The
Army was in the process of converting 800 M-26 Pershing tanks into M-46
Patton tanks, but none were readily available.'
In the Pentagon, Lieutenant General Matthew B. Ridgway, Army
Assistant Chief of Staff for Administration, who in 1951-52 would see the
problems in Korea face-to-face as Commander-in-Chief, confronted the task
of procuring the tanks necessary to prosecute the war in that theater. On 13
July 1950, he approved several recommendations by the Chief of Army Field
Forces dealing with tank production and procurement in the United States:
That the tank development and procurement program be put on a
crash basis.
That the Army complete its conversion program of 800 medium
M-26s to M-46s.
That the Army build 300 more M-46s from hulls and turrets stored
at Detroit Arsenal.
That the Army convert 183 Medium M-45s with 105mm howitzer
to M-46s with 90mm gun. lO
Simple math shows that 1283 M-46 Patton tanks could have theoreti-
cally been available for use in Korea. What is not readily apparent, however,
is that the logistical apparatus necessary to support these tanks did not exist
in the Army force structure. The memorandum goes on to indicate that the
T-4llight tank was to be placed into production as a replacement for the M-24,
but no new model tank (excluding the M-46) would reach Korea before
December 1952." Eighth Army was on its own forthe initial stages of the war.
With the effectiveness of the North Korean tanks apparent to the
officers of Eighth Army, several improvisational ideas were bandied about in
an effort to put a competitive American armor unit in the field. The first idea
considered was the formation of a provisional tank battalion from the units in
existence within the Army. The battalion would consist of the tank companies

Summer 1992 69
of the 7th and 25th Infantry Divisions, and the Reconnaissance Company of
the 1st Cavalry Division, The Eighth Army G-3 claimed that the "plan [could]
be executed on order,,,12 Despite the optimistic assessment, however, the
efficacy of such an organization was doubtful.
Even though the tank companies were available to fill the combat role
of the provisional battalion, none of the essential headquarters or logistical units
existed, Even if it had been possible to obtain the personnel and equipment for
the headquarters from the divisions of Eighth Army, the battalion still would
have consisted only of the same war-weary M-24 light tanks that were of
dubious value in fighting the Russian-made T-34 tanks of the North Koreans.
Another Eighth Army plan, however, produced more tangible results.
A check of the tanks on hand in the depots of Japan yielded three M-26
Pershing medium tanks with engine and electrical problems. 13 In the wake of
the disaster of Task Force Smith, it was decided to rebuild the tanks and form
them into a provisional tank platoon in an effort to get them into battle as soon
as possible. The 8064th Heavy Tank Platoon (Provisional) was organized on
10 July 1950, consisting of the three M-26s manned by Lieutenant Samuel R.
Fowler and 19 men from the 1st Cavalry Division. 14 Additionally, another
provisional unit, the 8066th Mechanized Reconnaissance Platoon, was formed
from men out of Kobe Base, Japan, who had previous armor experience. It
consisted of five M-8 "Greyhound" armored cars, used by the military police
in Tokyo for crowd control, with a captain as the platoon leader, a first
lieutenant as his executive officer, and 25 enlisted men. The 8066th arrived
in Pusan in the middle of July ahead of the 8064th, moving to Taegu to guard
the newly arrived Eighth Army Hea9quarters.15
On 12 July 1950, Lieutenant Fowler's men and their three tanks set
sail from Yokohama for Pusan. They arrived four days later, the first American
medium tanks in Korea. On 27 July, the three tanks moved by rail to Chinju
in the southern sector of the now rapidly diminishing United Nations perim-
eter. The North Korean 6th Division was pushing the 19th Infantry Regiment
back toward Masan when the 8064th arrived at the Rail Transportation Office
in Chinju at 0300 hours on the 28th. The tanks had chronic problems with
overheating engines, as their fan belts were stretching out of shape after
running only a few hours. Fowler pleaded for new belts, and attempts were
made to fabricate them in Japan, but the belts were either too long or too
short. 16 Other attempts were made, but the end result of the efforts to get new
fan belts to the M-26s at Chinju saw Lieutenant Fowler and the tankers of the
8064th making do with what they had.
The North Korean 6th Division entered Chinju on the morning of 31
July. A train with flatcars was sent to evacuate the tanks and Fowler's men
that morning, but it never made it to Chinju. 17 Lieutenant John Winters and
the Headquarters section of the 8066th (one M-8 armored car, one two-and-

70 Parameters
 a-half ton trnck, and one jeep) were waiting at the Rail Transportation Office
in Chinju for the train to evacuate the three M-26s and themselves. When the
train did not arrive in the morning, Lieutenant Winters decided that it was not
coming and moved his unit out of Chinju on the road toward Masan. After
coming to a blown bridge only a few miles out of the village, the M-8 and
jeep negotiated a bypass, but the trnck became stuck and had to be winched
across. They made it back to Masan safely.ls
At noon on the same day, the fighting in Chinju died down, and
Lieutenant Fowler decided to remain at the rail station for the train to extricate
his platoon. At approximately 1300 hours, a group of North Koreans moved
up the rail line toward the American tanks. A firefight ensued, with the tank
.30 and .50 caliber machine guns hammering the enemy soldiers. Lieutenant
Fowler was wounded in the exchange of small arms fire, which killed or
wounded all of the enemy force.
The tanks immediately moved out on the road to Masan that the
8066th Headquarters section had taken earlier in the morning. Coming to the
blown bridge, the men abandoned the tanks and made a litter for Lieutenant
Fowler. Suddenly, North Korean soldiers began firing at the dismounted
tankers. Master Sergeant Bryant Shrader was the only member of the platoon
still aboard his tank when the firing began. He returned fire with the .30
caliber machine gun of his tank; then he started it and drove toward the group
of Americans now seeking cover in the streambed. Six men were able to get
into the tank by crawling under it and through the driver's escape hatch into
safety. Shrader moved his tank back toward Chinju, where the engine over-
heated at the bridge over the Nam River. Abandoning the tank, Shrader and
his six men moved west toward Masan, where they eventually passed through
25th Division lines to safety. All of the men left at the bridge were either killed
or captured, with Lieutenant Fowler one of the dead. l'
The 8066th Mechanized Reconnaissance Platoon survived the fiasco
at Chinju only to meet a fate similar to that of the 8064th two days later. Attached
to the 1st Battalion, 29th Infantry, the 8066th was ambushed while participating
in a reconnaissance in force westward from the village at Chungam-ni back
toward Chinju on 2 August. Four of the platoon's armored cars were destroyed,
and Lieutenant Winters was killed.20
The two provisional platoons led an evanescent life in combat in
Korea. They were the product of a desperate command seeking a solution to the
enemy armored threat. Hastily organized, operating equipment they had never
trained on, and haphazardly committed to combat, the 8064th and 8066th failed
to attain even a modicum of success, despite the heroics of individuals. Both
platoons reflected the relative unreadiness of Eighth Army as a whole to deal
with a ready force such as that of North Korea. Seen from this perspective, the
two provisional platoons performed in a predictable manner.

Summer 1992 71
T he final stop-gap measure introduced by the Eighth Army's staff was the
formation of the 80nd Provisional Tank Battalion. Activated on 17 July
1950 at Camp Drake, Tokyo, it was to be equipped with the M-4A3 Sherman
tanks being rebuilt by ordnance personnel. 21 Officers and men were flushed out
of all units in Eighth Army to man the new battalion. The battalion commander,
Lieutenant Colonel Welborn G. Dolvin, would retire in 1975 as a highly
decorated lieutenant general. On 12 July 1950 he was on the golf course at Fort
Benning, Georgia, when a messenger handed him orders diverting him from his
original assignment in Austria to Korea and command of the 80nd." Since
there were not enough personnel in Japan to man the battalion, nine officers and
146 enlisted soldiers were sent from the 2d Armored Division at Fort Hood,
Texas, to join the five officers and 65 soldiers from Eighth Army."
Lieutenant Colonel Dolvin arrived in Japan on the 19th of July to
find that his soldiers came from all specialties in the Army, including a few
who had been working in the PX.24 With the situation in Korea critical, Dolvin
was under tremendous pressure to get his first company into combat as soon
as possible. Like the provisional platoons that had preceded it into combat,
the 80nd Tank Battalion's first company would become another victim of the
parsimonious nature of prewar defense spending, as four of ten tanks were
lost in the company's first day of combat in the same ambush that claimed the
armored cars of the 8066th.
On 28 July, Company A shipped out of Japan, landing in Pusan three
days later. Only 14 days after activation, the lead. elements of the battalion
arrived in Korea, where they moved into combat the following day. The
battalion's war diary reflects the result of this hasty deployment:

I August 1950, fifteen days after its activation, the 8072d Medium Tank Bat-
talion found itself spread between Camp Drake, Tokyo, Japan, and Masan,
Korea, only a portion of its personnel and equipment ready for combat, under-
strength in personnel, only partially equipped, no training having been ac-
complished, and with only promises of additional equipment and personnel, and
time to accomplish the needed work and training to ready itself for combat."

With the North Korean 6th Division supported by the 83d Regiment of the
105th Armored Brigade pressing its attack in the southern sector of the Pusan
Perimeter, time was a lUxury Eighth Army could not afford to give the
fledgling battalion.
On 4 August the remainder of the 80nd Tank Battalion arrived in
Pusan, and three days later Department of the Army redesignated the battalion
the 89th Medium Tank Battalion. Owing to a quirk in the TO&E under which
the 89th was formed, Lieutenant Colonel Dolvin had four tank companies
instead of the three normally assigned to a tank battalion of an infantry
division." Dolvin hid this fact from Eighth Army headquarters and used the

72 Parameters
confusion to keep his D Company out of combat. He then trained the company
in a secure area in the perimeter near the village of Chinhae. Dolvin did not
use D Company in combat until 5 September, when it was sufficiently trained.
The TO&E quirk allowed the 89th to rotate companies out of the line during
late August and into September for rest, maintenance, and training." Dolvin's
actions serve to illustrate the extreme measures that had to be taken to redress
the years of neglect suffered by America's heavy forces.
While Eighth Army struggled to field armor formations, the Pentagon
tried to field tank battalions that could be shipped to Korea. In July 1950, the
6th Tank Battalion was pulled from the 2d Armor Division, and two other
battalions were formed from the school troops stationed at Forts Benning and
Knox. The 70th Tank Battalion, formed at Fort Knox, consisted of the same
melange of men and materiel that characterized Dolvin's 8072d Tank Battalion.
Two companies were equipped with M-4A3 Sherman tanks from Rock Island
Arsenal, and the third company was actually equipped with M-26 Pershing tanks
that were sitting on concrete pedestals around the post at Fort Knox! These
"monument tanks" were taken down from their mounts and shipped westward
on 17 July 1950, along with the rest of the hastily formed battalion, less than
five days after activation. The battalion landed at Pusan on 7 August 1950 and
went straight into combat-"a complete bunch of strangers with no training.""
Problems also plagued production lines in America, as tank produc-
tion was restarted after years of dormancy. Building a tank requires a long
lead time. Thousands of parts must be manufactured and assembled. Special-
ized tools and dies are required, as are skilled engineers and workers. Because
of the extensive time required to retool and reenergize American tank produc-
tion during the Korean War, more troops were using the World War II vintage
Sherman tank than the newer M-46 Patton as late as October 1952. 29 The M-46
was not a new tank from the ground up. It was simply a new turret mated to
existing World War II vintage M-26 hulls. Had the Army not been in the
process of converting 800 M-26s into M-46s, it is likely that only World War
II era tanks would have reached the battlefield prior to 1953.
When tank development and production was placed on a crash basis
in 1950, a plethora of onerous side-effects manifested themselves on the
battlefield. Even though the M-46 conversion was started before the war
began, many ofthe technical problems had not been remedied. On 12 February
1951, the 64th Tank Battalion, one of two battalions in Korea equipped with
the M-46 at this time, had 35 of its 58 tanks break down on a road march.
Thirty of the M-46s were lost because of a problem with the engine oil cooler
fan that adequate testing would have revealed. 3O
The final morass of problems confronting initial Eighth Army armor
operations in Korea was logistical in nature. In an effort to fill out Dolvin's
newly formed 8072d Tank Battalion and the battalions en route from the United

Summer 1992 73
States, every tank available anywhere was employed. The amalgam of disparate
types of tanks would create a serious strain on an already attenuated supply
system both in Eighth Army and in the United States. B Company of the SOnd
Tank Battalion consisted ofM-26 tanks taken from the Hawaii National Guard,
while the other three companies were equipped with M-4A3ES Shermans. 31 The
6th Tank Battalion was equipped with the M-46 Patton tank, while the 70th and
nd Tank Battalions also had a mixture ofM-26 and M-4A3 companies. The 1st
Marine Tank Battalion and the 73d Tank Battalion had only M-26 Pershings in
their companies, but all of the battalions had M-4A3 Shermans with dozer
blades, as well as M-32 recovery vehicles that were based on the Sherman
chassis.32 It was possible, therefore, for a single tank battalion to have three or
four different types of tanks and armored vehicles. AdditionallY, it was not
unusual for these same tanks to have different types of engines powering them. 33
Another serious handicap was the lack of trained ordnance support
personnel within the divisions. Since the medium tanks in the divisions of
Eighth Army had been deactivated before the war, the ordnance companies
had no experience with the types of tanks they were called on to support.
Confronting all of the unit commanders in the opening months of the
war were the mechanical problems caused by the age of the tanks in use.
Numerous mechanical failures hampered armor operations in Korea from July
1950 through January 1951. Over 60 percent of all tank casualties experienced
by American forces were the result of mechanical breakdowns during this
period, with only 11.5 percent of the total losses attributable to the enemy.
Almost as many tanks, 11 percent, were lost to enemy mines. 34 The fact that
the Pershings and Shermans were veterans of World War II largely explains
the high incidence of mechanical failure, with the power plant being the
greatest single cause. The engine of the M-26 was the least reliable, as
Lieutenant Fowler and the men of the S064th had discovered in the first month
of the war." Finally, there simply were not enough trained tank mechanics in
theater to handle the crushing workload presented by the mechanical prob-
lems. The situation was not rectified until 1951, when heavy ordnance com-
panies could be mobilized and sent to Korea. 36

A s the US Army moves into an era of reduced funding and smaller force
size, it is imperative that the Korean War experience not be repeated. If
we truly are to have no more Task Force Smith's (or S064th's, S066th's, or
SOnd's), then extensive thought must be given to design of a force structure
that supports doctrine and maintains flexibility. Downsizing should not mean
the elimination of certain formations or branches merely because they seem
too expensive or too heavy to maintain. Commanders should not be asked to
take monument tanks and fight a war. Likewise, vital training should not have
to take place under enemy fire.

74 Parameters
 While there is little doubt that small actions in the Panama and
Grenada mold are the more likely type in future contingencies, this does not
eliminate the possibility of an operation such as Desert Storm. I have no desire
to predict the likely opponent to be faced next by the US Army, but I do caution
against a force structure that prepares for only one type of conflict. Desert
Shield might not have transitioned so nicely into Desert Storm if the para-
troopers of the 82d Airborne Division had had to fight the tanks of the
Republican Guard without the MIAls and Bradleys of VII Corps, or if there
had been no industrial base to produce or support the heavy vehicles.
It is not possible to create an effective combined arms armored force
without a concomitant industrial base. It is not just a matter of building tanks.
We must be able to manufacture repair parts and the intricate electronic
components needed in today's fighting vehicles. At the start of the Korean
War, tanks were found that by dint of heroic improvisation could be used in
combat, but the infrastructure required to support them did not exist in either
the Army force structure or the civilian industrial base. How would the
battalions of VII Corps have performed in the Kuwaiti desert if more than 30
tanks per battalion had broken down on the armored sweep around the Iraqi
flank? Instead of using the M I A I, what if the American tank battalions had
been equipped with M-48 and M-60 tanks that had been sitting at Anniston
Army Depot or Fort Knox for five years?
In his memoirs, General J. Lawton Collins lays the blame for the
general unreadiness of the Army to fight in Korea clearly on the leadership in
Washington. He accuses himself, General Omar N. Bradley (Chairman of the
JCS), President Truman and his Administration, and the Congress for failing
to estimate realistically the needs of the military.37 The Army's Chief of
Military History at the time, Major General Orlando Ward, suggested that
"popular sentiment against a large standing military establishment" was also
to blame for the debacle that befell Eighth Army.38
When the US Army was committed to combat in Korea in July 1950,
no one asked Lieutenant Colonel Brad Smith if the force structure in place at
the time supported the combined arms doctrine he would be called upon to
follow on the field of battle. The type of war fought in Korea was neither
predicted nor expected by the soldiers and civilians in the defense estab-
lishment. General of the Army Douglas MacArthur described Smith's mission
as "merely an appearance of force-an arrogant display of strength.,,39 But
arrogance did not stop the oncoming North Korean tanks, nor will it stop a
determined enemy tomorrow.

NOTES

1. Robert A. Doughty, The Evolution of us Army Tactical Doctrine. 1946-76, Leavenworth Paper Number
One (Fort Leavenworth, Kans.: Combat Studies Institute, 1979), p. 4.

Summer 1992 75
 2. Ibid., p. 5.
3. Roy F. Appleman, South to the Naktong, North to the Yalu: June-November 1950, United States
Army in the Korean War (Washington: Office of the Chief of Military History, United States Army, 1961),
pp.69-76.
4. Daniel P. Bolger, "The Ghosts of Omdunnan," Parameters, 21 (Autumn 1991),39.
5. General 1. Lawton Collins. Address before the United States Armor Association, reprinted in Armor,
61 (January-February 1952),8.
6. Eighth Army War Diary. G-4 Supply Division memorandum titled "Information from G-4 Supply
Division for period 25 June 1950 to 30 June 1950," 31 August 1950, Washington National Records Center,
Suitland, Maryland (hereafter WNRC), Box 1081.
7. Ibid.
8. Eighth Army War Diary, G4 Supply Division, 4-10 July 1950, WNRC, Record Group 407, Box 1081.
9. J. A. Huston, "Korean Logistics," unpublished manuscript, June 1960, US Anny Military History
Institute, Carlisle Barracks, Pa. (hereafter USAMHI), p. IX~15.
10. General Matthew B. Ridgway, Memorandum for Chief of Army Field Forces, 13 July 1950,
Ridgway Papers, Box 16, USAMHI.
11. Huston Manuscript, p. IX ~ 19.
12. Eighth Army War Diary, 23 July 1950, G3 Operations Report Number 280, WNRC, Box 1081.
13. Eighth Army War Diary, 5 July 1950, G4 Journal, Ordnance Section Daily Activity Report,
WNRC, Box 1081.
14. Eighth Army War Diary, 10 July 1950, G3 Operations Report Number 293, WNRC, Box 1081.
15. C. M. Williams, letter to author, 26 January 1990, Orlando, Fla. Hereafter cited as Williams letter.
Also, C. M. Williams interview by telephone, 6 February 1991. Hereafter cited as Williams interview. Mr.
Williams was a member of the 8066th from its inception to its destruction.
16, Eighth Army War Diary, July 1950, Inspector General Report, WNRC, Box 1082.
17. Eighth Anny War Diary, July 1950, I.G. Report, WNRC, Box 1083.
18. Williams letter and interview.
19. Eighth Army War Diary, July 1950, I.G. Report, WNRC, Box 1083.
20. Williams letter; Appleman, pp. 239-40.
21. Eighth Army War Diary, G-3 Operations Report, 17 July 1950, WNRC, Box 1083.
22. Lieutenant General (Ret.) Welborn G, Dolvin, Oral History, 1 April 1977, Senior Officers
Debriefing Program, USAMHI. Hereafter cited as Dolvin oral history,
23. Lieutenant Colonel Welborn G. Dolvin, speech given at VMI, 12 December 1951, "Employment
of Armor in Korea," contained in the Clay and Joan Blair collection, Box 51, at USAMHI. Hereafter cited
as Dolvin speech.
24. Dolvin oral history.
25. 80nd Medium Tank Battalion War Diary, 1-7 August 1950, 89th Tank Battalion War Diary 7-31
August 1950, WNRC, Box 3751.
26, Dolvin oral history.
27. Ibid.; 89th Tank Battalion War Diary, September 1950, WNRC, Box 3751.
28. Interview, Clay Blair with William M. Rodgers, 12 July 1987. in Clay Blair, The Forgotten War:
America in Korea 1950-1953 (New York: Times Books, 1987), p. 213. Then~Lieutenant Colonel Rodgers
was the battalion commander of the 70th Tank Battalion when it was formed at Fort Knox.
29. Huston manuscript, p. IX-20.
lO. Ibid., p. IX-23.
31. Dolvin speech; 89th Tank Battalion War Diary, August 1950, WNRC, Box 3751.
32. H. W. MacDonald, et aI. The Employment of Armor In Korea (2 vols.; Baltimore, Md . Operations
Research Office, Johns Hopkins University, 16 July 1951), I. 19.
33. Jack D. Doughertyet al., "Logistical Support of Annored Units in Korea," research report prepared by
Committee 35, Annor Officers Advanced Course, the Annor School, Fort Knox, Kentucky, April 1952, p. 4.
34. Huston, p. IX~21; MacDonald et aI., Table IlIA.
35. McDonald et aI., p. 29.
36. Eighth Army War Diary, Armor Section Report, "Comments on Tactical and Technical Problems,
2 December 1950, copy found in 70th Tank Battalion Command Report, December 1950, WNRC, Box 4433,
37. J. Lawton Collins, War in Peacetime: The History and Lessons of Korea (Boston: Houghton
Mifflin, 1969), p. 73.
38. Orlando Ward, Korea-1950 (Washington: Office of the Chief of Military History, United States
Army, 1952), p. 14.
39. Douglas MacArthur, Reminiscences (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1964), p. 336.

76 Parameters